


On the outside

by ragdollrory



Series: Fire and Blood snippets and alternate paths [3]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-27
Updated: 2019-12-27
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:54:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21986245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ragdollrory/pseuds/ragdollrory
Summary: Azula wakes up from a nightmare. Set within the world of In Fire and Blood.
Series: Fire and Blood snippets and alternate paths [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1582678
Comments: 5
Kudos: 18





	On the outside

She knew he knew she was there. They’d become alert with time, hypervigilant in their own home. Something that lingered in them, even after all these years of  _ him _ being gone. Still, he played the part, and remained in the middle of his bed, unmoving, pretending. She appreciated it.

Azula walked softly, feet making no noise on the carpeted floor. She stood by the bed a moment longer, debating herself, watching the steady rise and fall of his chest, and the slight off-one every so often, that told on him not being really in the dreams realm.

Eventually- what she’d learned was just before he grew impatient, and looked at her with those worried gold eyes- she slid in between the covers and sheets, head finding his shoulder. Her fingers sat gingerly over the scar on his chest, the reason she’d woken up today.

It was slightly different each time; his scars, his vanishment, her breakdown, a glimpse of their past,  _ his _ voice,  _ hers _ . And Azula would wake up in a fit. Sit up in bed counting the seconds. Calling reality back to her, biting her lips not to call for him. Until she couldn't help it anymore, and went in his search.

He’d long ago stopped running to her bedroom when she cried out, she’d asked him to. But she’d still to break this one habit. He said it was okay, Zuko always did. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and held her. And it was everything she needed to fix herself for the foreseeable future.

That night she’d tried, the same as always, to stay alone. Not to need him. But the nightmare had been particularly bad. There were words she could still not shake from her mind, awful truths, disgusting lies, nasty secrets. A mirror that showed just how much she’d burned.

If he were awake, he’d ask she tell him, and she would. And then there would be two of them. As it was, she could protect him from her, the same as he did. And as his hand pressed on her arm, and he kissed her temple, her hand tightened on his robe over the scar.

“I’m sorry you have to carry them on the outside.” She whispered to the silk of his shoulder. His grip became harder, just for a second. A single tear escaped her, running over the bridge of her nose to the other side, getting lost somewhere between the mess of long hair under them.

And then they slept.


End file.
